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Who's Who - Lanoe Hawker

Lanoe George Hawker
(1890-1916) was the first fighter pilot to be awarded the
Victoria Cross.

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Born in Hampshire in 1890
Hawker enlisted with the British Royal Flying Corps (RFC) before war broke
out in 1914.

Once war was underway
however Hawker quickly distinguished himself, receiving the
DSO in April
1915 for his overtly aggressive tactics with 6 Squadron in successfully
attacking - with hand grenades - a German
Zeppelin shed at Gontrode.

The following year, on 25
July 1915 in the skies above Ypres, Hawker succeeded in bringing down two
German aircraft by - unusually - deploying a variant of the
Lewis Gun as a
weapon on the starboard side of his Bristol Scout aircraft. This
remarkable success (which included forcing a third aircraft to land) earned
Hawker the Victoria Cross, the first for an airman.

Promoted to Major Hawker,
whose motto was simply "attack everything", was given command of 24 Squadron
in February 1916 while flying the DH2 aircraft. Having established
himself as the first Commonwealth
air ace -
he achieved seven victories in total - Hawker's remarkable run came to an
end when, following a lengthy dogfight with
Manfred von
Richthofen - the Red Baron, he was downed and killed shot through the
head on 23 November 1916 above Bapaume. He was aged 25.